Does travel insurance cover flight delay?

If you have a travel insurance policy with delay coverage, it will pay claims for reasonable costs incurred while you wait for your trip to continue. However, reimbursement is only possible if the delay meets the minimum requirements laid out by the insurance company for time length and cause.



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Comprehensive travel insurance typically covers canceled flights that delay your trip for at least 3–12 hours. If your flight is delayed more than 12 hours, you may even qualify for trip cancellation coverage, depending on your plan.

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Travel insurance generally does not cover flight changes initiated by the traveler, such as rescheduling for personal reasons. However, if the airline initiates a reschedule or rerouting due to operational issues or schedule changes, travel insurance may provide coverage for additional expenses.

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Comprehensive travel insurance typically covers canceled flights that delay your trip for at least 3–12 hours. If your flight is delayed more than 12 hours, you may even qualify for trip cancellation coverage, depending on your plan.

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When an airline makes a significant change to your flight (what's significant varies by airline but can be as little as 90 minutes) you have the right to a) an full refund or b) to ask to be put on a different flight (without a change fee, and often without having to pay more if the new flight is more expensive).

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According to the DOT, airlines are not required to provide money or other compensation when flights get delayed, regardless of how late they are.

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Trip interruption applies to trips unexpectedly cut short for a covered reason, and trip delay applies to travel plans that are delayed (but not cut short) for a covered reason.

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In most cases you have the right to be rebooked on the next available flight, or ask for a refund and flight back to your point of departure. You'll need these later to make a compensation claim.

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A controllable flight cancellation or delay is essentially a delay or cancellation caused by the airline. Examples include: maintenance or crew problems; cabin cleaning; baggage loading; and fueling.

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For the most part, it's up to individual airlines to decide how to compensate their passengers after a delay. “There's no specific policy on compensations, said Shaiy Howard, president and CEO of Travel by Shaiy, a travel agency based in South Florida. Just keep in mind that all airlines vary.

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So it can delay the flight for an hour to several hours until the problem is fixed. Technical issues are pretty rare, but airlines are liable to pay compensation to their passengers if the delay is of more than 3 hours. The amount of compensation, however, depends upon the flight distance.

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If you purchased a round-trip flight and need to change the first leg to a different day, your best bet will likely be to pay the change fee and book a new flight. If you only need to change the return portion of a round trip, however, it may be cheaper to book a new one-way flight than to pay the cancellation fee.

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If airlines cancel a flight for any reason, passengers are legally entitled to a full refund, including for ticket price, taxes, baggage fees, extra charges and ancillary fees. Travelers must receive that refund within seven business days if they paid by credit card, and within 20 days if by cash or check.

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If your flight is delayed by 2 hours, you can recover the costs incurred as compensation from the airline. Just make sure you keep the corresponding payment receipts.

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